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DUCTAC Dubai - UAE Galleryoflight@Ductac.Org 002 003 Mind Dubai Contemporary Contents DUCTAC Dubai - UAE [email protected] www.ductac.org 002 003 MinD Dubai Contemporary Contents 010 Foreword Colette Mol / Joseph Fowler 014 Dubai Contemporary Mohammed Kazem 019 Visual Polyphony Cristiana de Marchi 035 Abdul Rahman Al Ma’aini 047 Corrina Celeste Mehiel 059 Cristiana de Marchi 071 Hassan Sharif 081 Jessica Mein 091 Joe Girandola 101 Layla Juma 117 Lujin Yoon 131 Mohammed Ahmed Ibrahim 143 Nelly Massera Foreword DUCTAC’s Gallery of Light collaborates with both local and international artists and curators to exhibit arts practice that is evolving and experimental. Now in its third year, the Gallery’s alternative art platform “MinD” (Made in Dubai) aims to function as a barometer, reflecting the state and mood of art in the UAE. The initiative serves to advance the cultural dialogue in the UAE, to provoke public interest, input and debate around new artistic developments, encouraging fresh thinking and new ways of viewing and appreciating contemporary art. “MinD” is part of our ongoing initiative to provide a platform for UAE-based artists, in order to build a dynamic and vital foundation for visual arts in the Emirates. On behalf of the team at DUCTAC we would like to express our sincere gratitude to Mohammed Kazem, a leading figure in the development of contemporary art in the UAE, for his vision, discernment and dedication in curating this exhibition. We would also like to offer special thanks to the co-editor of this catalogue Cristiana de Marchi, for her insightful observations and words, and to Corrina Mehiel and Lujin Yoon for their contributions to both the catalogue and to the exhibition as a whole. Colette Mol / Joseph Fowler 009 011 052 Dubai Contemporary The concept of “Dubai Contemporary” is conjured mainly from the simple philosophical notion of putting together different visual perspectives of artists from various cultural backgrounds, who meet together and register their observations and impressions of the city of Dubai; a city that combines a deep rooted history of Arabic and Islamic tradition with modernity and futuristic prospects. The exhibition offers a great opportunity for art lovers to come in contact with a new dimension for approaching the environment. The exhibition is made up of works by three distinct groups of artists. Firstly a group of Emirati artists expose their reactions towards the rich and multi-layered environment of their country. Secondly, the exhibition presents the work of some artists from abroad who have close ties with Dubai, some of them having resided in the Emirate for many years now. These works reveal the artists’ relationship with the place and the affection they have towards it. A third group includes the works of three artists from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, USA, who will express their impressions about a place they are visiting for the first time. Together, these three collections will represent the many faces of contemporary Dubai. All the artists will be invited to reside in Dubai for almost a month, where they will have the chance to roam its streets and landmarks and will have an up close and personal view of its features and ways of life, before registering their impressions in their respective artistic methods and tendencies. This mixture of techniques and visions is what gives the exhibition its richness and vigour. Contemporary artistic movements consider ‘place’ to be a vital pillar in the creative process, especially when the place in question embraces sublime humanistic dimensions, and the spirit of the past is interwoven with the amazement of innovation and modernity. The artist tries to touch upon the social changes that occurred within these places, and to observe the effect the circumstances of people have on aesthetics and physical expression. Cities like Dubai impose an ever changeable question inspired by the fast rhythm of living and the convergence of sensual points of view in an interactive environment of multiple roots and identities. This exhibition tends to serve as a microcosm for this idea. At one level, “Dubai Contemporary” represents a direct call to love, friendship and belonging to human beauty, regardless of differences that may occur amongst people. Subsequently, the questions we ask ourselves regarding living in the present cannot find any concrete answer except in the arts that carry a sublime humanistic message, and try to deliver this message in a language understood and revered by all human beings. Mohammed Kazem 013 016 Visual Polyphony American filmography has familiarized international audiences with the concept of Let us admit it, Dubai occupies yet a different position. The connection, the polyphony, popularizing an idea originally associated with a musical compositional exchange, the communication between artists is still insufficient; local artists, style developed in Europe in the Middle Ages, but perfected in, and often especially the youngest generations (and this deserves a special appreciation, in identified with, baroque music. Combining two or more independent voices ruled its positive connotation), are nurtured and even encouraged to achieve steps in by harmonic principles, the style of music is nowadays relegated to a niche public, their career that would be out of reach for most young artists elsewhere. Critique as it is elegantly defined - a cornered phenomenon. Significantly differing from is always gentle and indulgent, without considering that the next step will be an symphony, where sounds agree and concord, polyphony, which literally means international audience and a specialized public. Foreign artists residing in UAE “made of many voices”, in fact combines, relates and creates a dialogue between live in a kind of aristocratic exile, being offered very few opportunities to show their several voices simultaneously evolving during the composition, yet maintaining works, looking at outside showcases for their production as well as UAE based their individuality and difference. galleries that privilege foreign artists tout court and build a specialized market around those names. True as it is, although it sounds sinisterly didactic to the core, in order to recognize a voice in a plurality of voices, each and every one of them must be characterized, must preserve their own specificity. It is obviously a common practice to organize shows gathering the work of different art practitioners, or gathering several artists around a common subject, according to the point of view and perspective of the curators. It is indeed the prevailing way to do the job, group exhibitions being instrumental to present a variety of positions, to explore a subject from different angles, sometimes to build a pretextual castle without foundations. Nevertheless, and on the other side, group shows are undeniably a precious tool for artists who gradually enter the art circuit before being offered the opportunity of their first aspired solo (with illustrious exceptions of course, and unquestionably). “Dubai Contemporary”, this year’s title of the “MinD” (Made in Dubai) series hosted by the Dubai Community Theatre and Arts Centre (DUCTAC), is a long term project elaborated by curator and artist Mohammed Kazem exploring the nature of artistic creation in Dubai, although it could be easily extended to the entire UAE. Involving a variety of artists, local, expatriate and foreign, at this stage of its development the project aims at focusing on the plurality of voices, equally dignifying the native and the foreign ones, by acknowledging the undeniably relevant diversification of contributions recordable in the field. The audience has become acquainted to the distinguo that still emphasizes the provenience of the practitioners, often prioritizing single groups over the others according to not so different agendas, although resulting in quite diversified outputs. “Dubai Contemporary” is intended to overtake this querelle and to face the plurality and multi-layered reality that constitutes the fluctuating consistency of Dubai, a city that would be the natural set for a choral film, for its very nature of being a connecting point between cultures. Yet not a bridge, a port perhaps, more a transient space than one which encourages exchange and reciprocates understanding. Indeed Dubai is not a provincial reality, where artists are mostly or exclusively local and well known by their audience; an attached and loving audience providing them with a friendly and caressing feedback. Neither is it a cultural megalopolis where the exploration, the commingling, the connection, the combination and the mixture of different stimuli and motivations will create new outcomes, and be the subject for a prepared, qualified and, in the best possible scenario, unbiased criticism. 020 The Voices We said ‘voices’ and meant them to be individual, recognizable yet characterized The Themes by a certain “belonging”, suddenly evoking the national/communitarian issue In a polyphonic musical composition each voice or instrument has a special that still remains a top issue in qualifying human beings. Neither human beings theme, a given theme. Similarly, each and every artist in this show is recognizable in general nor artists can escape that rule, too often called to take part in events for his/her specific voice, which is the result of their artistic exercise and research featuring a national colour as if it were a dress. and is continuously subject to change. This exhibition has the merit to reunite artists with three different statuses in relation Hassan Sharif does not need any introduction in the UAE, his long practice to the UAE and specifically to Dubai. A status which might change and in fact in several media with a main focus on paintings, semi-systemic works and on changes all the time - as far as an artist is invited to participate in shows organized the production of objects being quite familiar to a passionate audience of art and held abroad, or by accident or intention happens to move elsewhere and enthusiasts. His ironic perspective on the surrounding reality is the common trait relocate - thus proving, if ever necessary, the fragile consistency of belonging and denominator through his different expressions and creations.
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